What happened to winter?

Only 2 days have dropped to freezing since November

Was last night’s “hot halftime show" just a sign of our warming world? I didn’t actually see it, but I certainly heard about it.

Speaking of hot, did you notice January went by with NO freezing temperatures officially in Houston? We dropped to 34F on January 12th and the month is likely to come in as one of the warmest on record. December wasn’t much colder with 31F on Dec. 19th and November 13th the mercury fell to 30F. Barely enough freezing weather to call it a winter season.

The trend has been going on for warmer winters in Houston since 1970. Take a look at this graph from Climate Central which goes to 2018:

Houston's Winters are Warming!

And while we still have those nights calling for protecting your pets, plants and pipes, the length of our cold snaps is getting shorter:

Cold doesn't last as long!

So that’s the trend and a heads up for the future.

As to the immediate future, Texas will see a bit of wintry weather tonight and tomorrow night. Here’s the GFS (American model) for Wednesday morning where a good swath (blue and pink) of West Texas could pick up 3-5″ of snow along with freezing rain and sleet:

WEDNESDAY MORNING

We will drop to the mid-30s Thursday morning, but don’t get used to that as the climate forecast into the middle of the month is for above-average temps:

55% Chance of Above Normal Temps into mid February

I personally like warmer weather, and all my life I have never been a winter weather fan. From a professional position though, this continuing warming trend is something we mustn’t ignore. My thanks to Climate Central for the excellent research!